In identical rifles, which of these would have the lightest recoil, and the quietest report, least amount of muzzle blast?

No significant difference on the 25's, the 7-08 maybe a touch more.

In identical rifles, with identical weight bullets at identical velocities -- they would be the same, more or less. IOW, if you loaded 120 gr bullets to 2900 fps in three 7-lb Remington mountain rifles, you would not be able to tell the difference.

On the other hand, if you loaded 100 gr bullets at 3100 fps in the Roberts and 140 gr bullets to 2800 fps in the 7mm-08 -- the 7mm would kick noticeably more.

It's all physics...

Dennis

I couldn't tell you about report.....that's a good thing about loss of hearing. hehe

I hate the muzzle blast on my 20" .260. With 140's, it has more kick than my wife or kids can enjoy.
The .257 has never had a noticeable recoil with with the 117 grain factories.

stumpy

all are the same recoil with similar bullets, the 120 grain roberts, 120 grain 260 and 120 grain 7mm will be so close in recoil. Find a gun that you like first and then decide on caliber. The Kimber rifle has a pachmeyer decelerator pad, a good stock and is offered in 257 Roberts, or 260 or 7-08 it would be a good first choice. Note that it is my opinion that the twist in the Kimber 260 lends itself more to lighter bullets. That said unless moose is on the menu with the .260 then a 140 grain .260 should be fine. The most versitile of the 3 would be the 7-08, the best dedicated "deer gun" would probably be the .257 Roberts!

whichever one you like to look at the most.... roberts is high on the cool factor. 7-08 has you in with factory ammo and all around. the 260 if handloading has the most versatility. JMO

woofer

You want a simple answer I am guessing, not theory? I have all three. If you load them with the bullets they work best for deer with, the 257 Roberts recoils less, or surely feels that way.

I am talking the 257 with 100 grainers, 260 with 120 grainers, and 7mm-08 with 120 or 140 grainers.

I think the 257 by physics calculation with the normal bullets specified by ULA24 would have the least recoil. None of them recoil very much though. For muzzle blast, I'll bet there all the same with same length barrels.

What are you looking at hunting/shooting? A 7mmTCU (IIRC a 223 necked up to 7mm) with 120gr bullets sounds like what you're looking for. No recoil, minimal muzzle blast.

RH

I have all three also, The 257 Roberts kicks significantly less.

If you want someones opinion that matters, read Mr. Barsness article called the "Bob Revisited" from a couple years back. He talks about trying to find a rifle for his wife. She tried all three and the 257 roberts kicked noticibly less.

Himmel, I had a 7mm BR rifle 21", shot 120's at 2878 and recoil was mild, but a TCU would be 'soft' as I had a 14" TC and it was sweet! BR cases last forever, and TCU likely do better in bolts as the TC lends itself to some stretch, due to action, etc.

TCU good to 200-250 on deer, BR-how well can you shoot! BR for me would have been good to 300 or further if you can place a shot with a bullet that will expand well, a 120 b tip would be likely ideal, but a 130 at 2670 was not bad either.

The article (Feb-Mar 2003) is not on line, unfortunately.
http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/index.cfm?magid=68

Bruce

I have .257s and 7mm-08.
As stated, if you are shooting the normal bullets for each, such as 115-gr, 129-gr and 140-gr, the recoil will be much lower for the .257 than the 7mm-08.

Of course, it all depends on rifle weight, too.
My big M-700 Classic .257 is very mild, even with hotter loads.
My small 7-lb (with scope) 7mm-08 M-70 carbine has noticeably more recoil with a standard 140-gr bullet, but it's not bad at all.

As I posted here 5 years ago, if you load a 120-gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2,650 fps in your 7mm-08, you basically have duplicated a .257 Roberts. You can step it up to 2,800 and still have little recoil, or to the standard 3,000 fps and approach a .25-06. The light load is super accurate, shoots plenty flat to 250 yards, and kills like crazy.

According to a recoil calulator there is ~ 2 f/p difference between all of them them in a 7.5 lb rifle with 117 - 120 gr bullets in factory ammo (10.2 vs 12.4 f/p). There is less then 4 f/p difference between a 117 gr 257 and a 140 gr 7-08 in factory cartridges (10.2 vs 14.1 f/p) or very near the difference there is between a 150 gr 30 cal bullet fired from a 308 win vs a 30-06 (15.4 vs 18.2 f/p).

The stock geometry and rifle wgt likely makes as much difference in felt recoil as the cartridge.

With a full power load I think the stock design is going to be more important than the round chosen. If your handloading it would really eliminate any consideration of what is the best round, just download to what you need.

I do know that a .260 can push the 95 vmax at about 2400fps with bluedot and it will expand nicely without fragmenting. That was a load I build for an older neighbor to take blacktail with. He had very bad shoulders and I could not convince him that deer will fall just fine to a .223. That load was about the softest round with the mildest report I have ever fired from a centerfire. Im guessing it could easliy be duplicated in any of those choices.

I have a 260 and a couple 7mm-08s,had a 257 Bob for a while.

To me,the 7mm-08 with 140s was much worse than the other two.

The 257 and the 260 felt the same with 120 grain bullets,and I never tried 100 grainers in the 257 but I bet they would feel about the same as 100 grain loads in the 260.

Britt

I shoot 100 gr. Partitions or 110 Accubonds in my 257 Roberts. They are softer tan a 120 Gr. Partition in a 260.
Just my experience.

If you go Kimber Montana, none of them will recoil enough to mention. My 7-08 Montana with 140's recoils like a 243 - and the 260 and Bob should be milder. My 7-08 feels about like my much heavier 25-06 AI, even though I'm shooting 20 to 40 grain heavier bullets.

Honestly, I've got a really good shooting Mountain Rifle in 243, and I don't feel much difference in it and the Montana 7-08.

That Montana stock is a recoil taming rascal - same deal with my 300 WSM Montana - ease of recoil makes it hard to believe I'm shooting at 300 Winnie levels with such a light rifle.

DJ

HUH???

Excuse me, typo there.
No significant difference between the 25 and the 6.5, 7-08 a tad more.

The one with the lightest powder charge and bullet weight everything else equal.

I was just shooting a 257 Roberts today, with 87 and 90 grain bullets. It was a shear pleasure shooting those loads from a recoil point of view. However, my 7x57 (VERY close to the 7-08) with 140 grain Nosler Partitions lets me know it does recoil, but it's not objectionable at all.

The .257 Roberts has the lightest recoil, and the quietest report, least amount of muzzle blast.

I have a 7mm-08 and .257 Bob, and I think the Bob kicks less. Not by a great deal but I can tell it in hunting loads with hunting weight bullets. FWIW

I only shoot the 260.. but I can tell you this..

with a 100 grain ballistic tip, with an MV of 3350 fps out of a Ruger 77, when the Leupold scope is set on 3 to 5 power, I can shoot it without ever loosing sight picture thru the scope..

killed its first deer at 300 yds, and it was bang flop and I watched it drop dead in the scope... never lost sight picture of it during recoil...

The 260 can also be loaded with the 100 grain Nosler Partition, and thus do anything that the 257 Bob will do.

If you are handloading, you can simply fiddle your loads up or down to get the recoil that you want. If you are not handloading, IMO the 257 and 260 are probably not the best choices.

For me, I run the 260, up, down, and in between.